MOOSE JAW — The president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) says increasing funding for education could help address violence and bullying — like a recent incident at A.E. Peacock Collegiate — in schools.
A video recorded on Sept. 17 shows two Peacock students involved in a verbal fight before the vice-principal breaks it up. Students say there was a physical fight before the video was taken, with the altercation because of alleged bullying.
The incident led to the Prairie South School Division expelling the student who was allegedly bullied and suspending a group of other students for allegedly expressing their concerns about the vice-principal’s conduct.
Ryan Boughen, director of education, confirmed by email that there was an incident and that school staff and administration immediately addressed the situation and called the Moose Jaw Police Service.
“Our priority is always the safety and well-being of our students and staff. We are committed to maintaining a safe learning environment at A.E. Peacock Collegiate and would like to thank the Moose Jaw Police Service for their support,” he said.
“The school division cannot share the details pertaining to student discipline; therefore, we have no further information to share,” he continued.
When asked to confirm whether the division had expelled the student, as students told MooseJawToday.com, Boughen declined to comment since it was an internal matter and not something the division discussed publicly.
“I can assure you, however, that we will continue to support our students and staff as we bring this to a close,” he added.
A police spokesman also confirmed by email that officers responded to an incident around 1:20 p.m. about an altercation between two students, while the agency was investigating the situation with Prairie South’s full co-operation and had no other details to release.
STF comments
STF president Samantha Becotte told MooseJawToday.com that one solution to prevent violence and aggression is reducing class sizes and having more educational assistants and counsellors on site. She believes the increase in aggression is because schools aren’t meeting students’ needs.
“When students’ needs are being met, we’re less likely to see these types of violent behaviours come out as an act of frustration,” she said.
Classroom complexity and fewer resources are having a negative effect on students’ ability to learn, so the education sector must determine how to meet those needs, Becotte continued. She believes teachers are more than happy to find a solution that meets everyone’s needs.
“We’ve seen a decade of cuts to public education and we need to start looking at how we can better meet the needs of all kids,” she remarked.
The decline in resources during the past decade has likely contributed to more bullying because teachers have not been able to address issues since they’re already managing other situations in their classrooms or the school, Becotte said.
She declined to comment on how Peacock handled the alleged bullying incident, only saying teachers are doing their best to create safe learning environments. Also, she thought having more school resource officers could help, but that was more of a reactive measure than a proactive one.
The STF recently released the results of a survey that University of Ottawa researchers conducted into “disturbingly high rates of workplace violence and harassment in Saskatchewan schools” against teachers and support workers.
The results showed that roughly 70 per cent of survey participants had experienced at least one incident of violence or violent behaviour and 87 per cent had faced at least one incident of harassment.
Becotte said the data show these incidents are not isolated but are a growing concern across the province for all school-age groups.
“And while it definitely impacts those who are directly involved in the incident, it also impacts students who are witnessing these events … (or) who are having their learning disrupted because their classroom has to be evacuated … ,” she said.
Becotte added that the STF wants all students to have their needs met and for their learning environments to be safe and well-supported.
